Andy Westerly, of Brownsville, Texas, writes: "When something is meant as a compliment but just ends up annoying you, what's that called? Sometimes when I do something nice for my (elderly) mother, she'll tell me, 'You're a doll!' Now, to me, (1) that's a relatively low-class way of putting it and I don't like to think of my family that way, and (2) if you were going to say that to somebody, it's more appropriate for a not-very-close friend than for your son. It's meant to thank me, but I don't like it. What is that?"